Hello Everybody,
I have seen 75 mm and 127 mm Tominion lens with Copal shutters for Polaroid cameras at attractive prices. Will these cover 4x5? I have heard the 127 mm SHOULD cover 4x5. But what about the 75 mm Tominon? Anyone in the Graflex/Graphic community out there have any experience or recomendations concerning these lenses? Any quality issues? Any comments would be appreciated! Maybe these would be good "starter" lenses? Or are they better left alone? Thanks a whole lot from Oakland, CA.

My guess is theses are all either tessars or planars, which means the 127 would be a tight squeeze on 4x5 AT INFINITY and may need to be stopped down to really cover. the 75mm, probably won't cover at anything farther away than a 2x magnification. There were designed as copy lenses afterall.

On 2002-04-26 16:50, SpeedGraphicBeginner wrote:
Hello Everybody,
I have seen 75 mm and 127 mm Tominion lens with Copal shutters for Polaroid cameras at attractive prices. Will these cover 4x5? I have heard the 127 mm SHOULD cover 4x5. But what about the 75 mm Tominon? Anyone in the Graflex/Graphic community out there have any experience or recomendations concerning these lenses? Any quality issues? Any comments would be appreciated! Maybe these would be good "starter" lenses? Or are they better left alone? Thanks a whole lot from Oakland, CA.

I have a 75/4.5 Tominon in barrel, designed to screw into a #1 shutter. It is the same lens as yours.

It is a macro lens and will cover 4x5 at magnifications >= 2x. It is not a wide angle lens and won't even cover 6x9 at infinity.

I also have a 127/4.7 Tominon in Copal #1 Press. Its fine on 6x9. I've read elsewhere that it will just barely cover 4x5 at infinity. No movements, though. Another macro lens.

Don't get the 75 unless you need the magnification. If you can get the 127 cheaply enough, its probably worth trying. Should be much less expensive than a 127 Ektar, I got mine from a Polaroid CU-5 that cost around $12 delivered. If you get one for not too much, you can probably resell it for not much less than you paid for it. I'd say its worth a try, but if you want movements you'd be better off getting a reasonable 150.

Thanks 45PSS, Les and Dan!,
All of your information was great! Helped a lot! WIll keep info for reference. May be interesting to use these BUT not pay too much money. Maybe better to save for more useful lenses...Best regards to all you who posted replies!
Bob P.

Some of those tominon lenses, especially if they're in prontor shutters--may have been destined for Polaroid MP3 or MP4 copy cameras...we have both of those cameras where I work, and the MP3 has a set of Tominon lenses in Prontors that are 75mm, 127mm and one that's a macro lens at 35mm. These actually all cover 4x5, but the MP cameras are dedicated copystand/camera units. So, it's not like you're shooting at infinity....I have used the old 75mm, and the 127mm on a Toyo monorail view camera in our studio to do some closeup work, and while these aren't great lenses, compared to specialty lenses, they're still pretty decent. We just got an MP4, and the std. lens with it is a 105mm Tominon...I've been shooting 4x5 on it & it's sharp as a tack, but it's all close-up work...anyways, beggars can't be choosers--all this stuff we got free--thank god for surplus....